Shoe-lace fastener.



PATENTED AUG. 22, 1905.

Normans.

J. A. MoGOY. SHOE LACE FASTENER.

APPLICATION rum: AUG-.16, 1904.

INVENTOR fl w's Afforrieyl WITNESSES.-

UNITED srag iis PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 22, 1905.

Application filed August 16, 1904:- Serial No. 220,924.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. McCoY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Sisson, in. the county of Siskiyou and State of California,have invented new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Lace Fasteners, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in shoe-lacing fastenings therefor.Its object is to provide a neat, simple, and practical means forsecuring the end of a lacing without the tying of any knots.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combinationof parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, havingreference to the accompanying drawings, in which" Figure 1. showsapplication of my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail of the fastener.

A represents the upper of an ordinary laced shoe, to which is secured,near its top and to one side of the lace-opening, an eyelet of peculiarconstruction, which constitutes one feature of my invention. This eyeletcomprises a hollow shank 2, suitably secured at one end to the upper andhaving at the other end and exterior to the upper an enlargedradially-slotted head or cap 3. The head is preferably concavo-convexed,with its rim contiguous to the upper. The shank has a shoulder part 4,adapted to seat against the outside of the upper, and a flexible part 5,to be inserted through a. hole in the upper and crimped on the inside ofthe shoe. The opening in the shank is large enough to easily pass alacing and its metal tip. The major portion of the shank exterior to theupper is longitudinally slotted, as at 6, in the plane of and coincidentwith the radial slot 7 in the head of cap 3. The outside edges of thehead on either side of slot 7 are slightly rounded and outwardly andupwardly flared, as at 8, to enable a lacing to be easily wrapped aroundthe shank of the eyelet.

B represents a lacing, one end of which may be anchored to the shoe inany wellknown manner. The free end of the lacing is then passed throughthe lowermost eyelet 10 and laced back and forth and carried up insidethe shoe and passed through the shank 2 of the fastener. A loop lefttemporarily between the two uppermost eyelets 10 is laced upwardlyaround alternate hooks 11 and again downward around the interveninghooks until all are symmetrically engaged, the remaining slack of thelacing finally being taken up by pulling on the end of the lacingprotruding through shank 2. This protruding end of the lacing is thenwrapped one or more times, as on a spool, around the portion of theshank between the head or cap and the upper. The concavity of the capaccommodates and conceals the lacing, and the rim of the cap coacts withthe upper to revent the loosening of the lacing end once it is engagedas described. Such a device is very neat, simple, and inexpensive andpermits of the lacing end being quickly secured or unfastened. By itsuse all knots or loops are avoided.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

The combination with a shoe having a lac ing-opening, of an eyeletsecured to one side of the opening said eyelet composed of a shank and ahead said shank having an opening through it for the lacing and having alongitudinal slot, and said head. being made concavo-convex with itsconvex side presented outwardly and its peripheral edge normally incontact with the shoe-upper, said head, also, radially slotted from itscenter outward. and with said slot arranged coincident with the slot inthe shank and the walls of said radial slot turned outwardly at theentrance to the slot to permit the unobstructed passage of the lacingwhen winding the latter upon the shank portion interior to the concavedportion of the head.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOHN A. MCCOY.

Witnesses:

S. H. NOURSE,

JESSIE G. BRODIE.

